The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
At Eisenach on the fourth Sunday in Lent young people used to fasten a
straw-man, representing Death, to a wheel, which they trundled to the top
of a hill. Then setting fire to the figure they allowed it and the wheel
to roll down the slope. Next they cut a tall fir-tree, tricked it out with
ribbons, and set it up in the plain. The men then climbed the tree to
fetch down the ribbons.(672) In Upper Lusatia the figure of Death, made of
straw and rags, is dressed in a veil furnished by the last bride and a
shirt provided by the house in which the last death took place. Thus
arrayed the figure is stuck on the end of a long pole and carried at full
speed by the tallest and strongest girl, while the rest pelt the effigy
with sticks and stones. Whoever hits it will be sure to live through the
year. In this way Death is carried out of the village and thrown into the
water or over the boundary of the next village. On their way home each one
breaks a green branch and carries it gaily with him till he reaches the
village, when he throws it away. Sometimes the young people of the next
village, upon whose land the figure has been thrown, run after them and
hurl it back, not wishing to have Death among them. Hence the two parties
occasionally come to blows.(673)
(M196) In these cases Death is represented by the puppet which is thrown
away, Summer or Life by the branches or trees which are brought back. But
sometimes a new potency of life seems to be attributed to the image of
Death itself, and by a kind of resurrection it becomes the instrument of
the general revival. Thus in some parts of Lusatia women alone are
concerned in carrying out Death, and suffer no male to meddle with it.
Attired in mourning, which they wear the whole day, they make a puppet of
straw, clothe it in a white shirt, and give it a broom in one hand and a
scythe in the other. Singing songs and pursued by urchins throwing stones,
they carry the puppet to the village boundary, where they tear it in
pieces. Then they cut down a fine tree, hang the shirt on it, and carry it
home singing.(674) On the Feast of Ascension the Saxons of Braller, a
village of Transylvania, not far from Hermannstadt, observe the ceremony
of “Carrying out Death” in the following manner. After morning service all
the school-girls repair to the house of one of their number, and there
dress up the Death. This is done by tying a threshed-out sheaf of corn
into a rough semblance of a head and body, while the arms are simulated by
a broomstick thrust through it horizontally. The figure is dressed in the
holiday attire of a young peasant woman, with a red hood, silver brooches,
and a profusion of ribbons at the arms and breast. The girls bustle at
their work, for soon the bells will be ringing to vespers, and the Death
must be ready in time to be placed at the open window, that all the people
may see it on their way to church. When vespers are over, the longed-for
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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